Damaged
by VictoriouslyGrande
Summary: Cat has a serious problem, but can Tori figure out a way to help her before it's too late?
1. Chapter 1

"Okay, what movie should we watch?" I ask my friends Cat, Jade, Beck, Andre, and Robbie as I turned on Netflix with the Wii remote.

"Something with a lot of blood, guts, and gore" Jade answered. She was definitely a dark person, having interests in things other people were disgusted by.

Cat gasped at the answer. "Gross" she said innocently. She was thought of as the baby of the group. Cat was sweet, sensitive, over emotional, and had a train of thought comparable to that of a child.

"Why don't we watch something everyone will enjoy, babe" Beck told Jade, his girlfriend. He was calm and levelheaded. It seemed that most of his time was spent creating a compromise between the wants of Jade and those of all of their other friends. This was something he did as a second nature though and he was very good at it.

"But if it doesn't have blood, guts and gore I won't en-" Jade started to say before Beck shut her up with a kiss.

"Does anyone else have a suggestion?" I ask rolling my eyes at the couple making out on my couch.

"Beauty and the Beast!" Cat giggled.

"Any Jeff Dunham show" Robbie suggested, which wasn't surprising seeing as he carries around his own dummy named Rex. Shockingly, though, he left Rex home today. He claims that Rex told him that he wasn't feeling good, but he also felt the need to inform us that he has a sneaky suspicion that Rex wanted to stay behind because he had a date with a Northridge girl. The poor boy honestly believes that Rex is alive.

"August Rush. That kid can jam!" Andre offered up. He loves music in all ways possible. He's a fantastic musician, but when you attend a performing arts high school and all week you eat, breath, and sleep music and acting, you'd think you would need a break from it at some point. Not Andre, though.

"Well this is getting nowhere fast" I say, slightly annoyed at my friends' lack of ability to agree on something.

"Please can watch Beauty and the Beast? There's music for Andre, evilness for Jade and even things talking that aren't supposed to talk for Robbie!" Cat pointed out in an attempt to win this debate. The comment about Robbie won her a less than frightening glare from the dorky Robbie, which Cat simply responded to with a big smile, a smile that made anyone melt in cuteness. Even Jade who has a reputation of being a mean and evil girl.

"Fine, Beauty and the Beast it is" I decide as I type the title into the search box. As soon as I find it and hit play I sit back on the couch and catch a glimpse of Cat out of the corner of my eye. I look over at her as she sits cross-legged on the floor with her back against the couch, next to Jade's legs. Her eyes are lit up like a Christmas tree and there is a huge smile plastered on her face. You'd think she was about to meet her favorite celebrity, but that's just how Cat was. It was almost as if you could read every thought and every emotion Cat had like an open book. This girl hid nothing. Or at least that's what I had thought, until I noticed something right before I was about to turn back towards the TV screen.

Cat is wearing an off the shoulder sweatshirt, one sleeve of which is slightly pushed up off of her wrist. A wrist that was usually covered in different colorful bracelets, but it wasn't today. Today I noticed something else covering Cat's tiny wrist. They looked like thin red lines across Cat's left wrist. I didn't mean to stare, but I couldn't help it. Those couldn't be what I thought they were. No, Cat Valentine, always happy Cat Valentine, doesn't cut herself. There's no way. But those marks, those lines.

Cat must have noticed that I was staring in her direction because she pulled her eyes away from the TV to look at me, following my line of vision to her left wrist, which she hadn't noticed was exposed. She quickly pulled her sleeve down, a slight looked of embarrassment washing over her face, before she turned back to me and shot me one of those smiles that can just brighten anyone's day. I gave a forced smile back to my friend as I turn towards the TV, my mind now racing with a hundred different questions and concerns.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning at 7:00 am I'm woken up by my alarm clock.

"I hate Mondays" I moan as I turn off the alarm. I hadn't slept much that night. I couldn't make my brain shut up. Ever since Cat and everyone else had left the night before I couldn't get those marks on Cat's wrist out of my head.

I get out of bed and sluggishly get ready for school. When I finally make my way downstairs my sister, Trina, is sitting at the kitchen table having breakfast.

"Hurry it up there, slow poke. I'm leaving in 5 minutes whether you're ready or not" Trina informed me, barley looking up from her cereal. She was painfully self centered and hardly ever noticed, or cared about, anyone else but herself.

"I'll be ready, don't worry" I respond as I grab an apple out of the fruit bowl.

The usual ride to school consisted of Trina singing off key to whatever was on the radio and me trying to do anything to drown her out, but this morning I didn't mind the terrible singing since it seemed to be the only thing that could drown out my thoughts.

When we got to school I headed straight for my locker. Almost instantly, and out of nowhere, Cat appeared.

"Hey Tori!" she beamed.

"Hey Cat" I say, realizing that Cat seemed no different than any other day. I wanted to say something to her, to ask her what was on her wrist, to straighten out my thoughts, but I didn't want to scare her off or, if they were cuts, say something to upset her and cause her to do it again. Without realizing it, I give Cat a questioning glance, but Cat just smiled back not saying anything. I finished getting my books for first period and Cat and I head to our class together.

All day I watched Cat, hoping to see if she gave any sign to what would cause her to hurt herself like that, but she didn't. She never did, not once in the whole time I've known her. I went home that day with the same amount, if not more, of unanswered questions that I woke up with.

_I need to figure out what's going on, _I think to myself once I'm home and safely in my room. _I would expect something like this from Jade, cause she's all dark and scary and stuff, but not happy, bubbly Cat. _

The next day at school, unable to tame my thoughts, I decide to talk to the guidance counselor, Lane.

"So what's up Tori?" he asked as I sit down on the couch across from the big swinging chair he always sits in.

"I have a question, about a friend of mine and I swear it's a friend, not me!" I told him.

"Okay, ask away" he responded as he squirted some lotion into his hand. This man is obsessed with lotion, I swear.

"Okay, so one of my friends, well, I think they may be harming themselves. I accidentally saw some marks on their wrist and now I don't know what to do." The words practically fall out of my mouth.

"Well this sounds like some serious stuff, Tori. You might want to get you're friend to come talk to me about this if they go to school here. Do they?"

I've never been a good liar and Lane can tell as I say, "No" without looking up at him or sounding the slightest bit confident in my answer.

"Okay, well Tori, I can't really help you much unless you tell me who your friend is."

"No, I can't do that. I don't think she'd be happy if I told." My jaw drops slightly hoping he doesn't notice that I just narrowed it down to my female friends.

"So it's a girl?" _Crap, he noticed._ "Tori, is it Jade West?" _ Ha! I'm not the only who thinks it would be her._

"No. I swear. She…doesn't go here, promise. I just didn't know if I should talk to her or not, since I'm not even positive she actually cuts herself. I just think she does, but I don't know if she knows that I think she does."

Lane stares at me for a moment trying to follow what I just said. He finally speaks, "Okay, well if you honestly think this is a problem your friend has you should ask her about it. Be nice and understanding and don't pass any judgment about the topic, alright? Come back to talk to me if you need to. I'll be glad to help."

"Okay, thank you" I say as I stand up to leave. Now I need to talk to Cat, if only I knew what to say.


	3. Chapter 3

As I leave Lane's office I hear the bell ringing, signaling that it was time for lunch. I head to Cat's locker and wait for her to show up. As I see her round the corner towards her locker my stomach sinks. I'm getting nervous, but Cat's all smiles when she sees me waiting for her.

"Hey Tori!" she exclaims as she gets closer to me.

"Uhh, hey Cat" I say, not doing a good job of hiding my nerves.

"Are you okay? You don't look so good" she informs me as she opens her locker.

"Yea, I'm fine. I just….I was wondering if I could talk to you about something."

"Sure what's up?" she asks smiling; not showing any fear of what conversation may lie ahead.

"Not here, Cat, maybe somewhere more private? Would you mind eating lunch in the Blackbox Theater with me?" With this question her eyes finally show some fear. The gleam that's always in her eyes suddenly fades away, as if she finally realizes what this conversation may be about.

"Sure, Tori" was her simple response as she shut her locker and we both head in the direction of our school's theater. She doesn't say a word, or smile, the whole walk over. This is so unlike Cat and that starts to make me even more nervous about the conversation we're about to have. We each take a seat and turn the chairs so that they're facing each other. She looks up at me and gives a small smile, but her eyes still scream with fear and I may be going crazy but I swear I can hear her heart beating a thousand times a minute, but maybe that's mine. I reach for her hand; it's sweaty, she's nervous, now I'm scared.

"Cat, the other day, at my house, I saw something. Something I'm pretty sure you didn't want anyone to ever see" I start, not really sure what I'm saying.

"I was afraid you had seen that. I thought you did, but when you didn't say anything I figured you hadn't" she told me.

"I wanted to say something, but I just didn't know if I should. Or what I would even say. I still don't."

"Let me help then. It's not what you think, it's nothing. I'm fine. That's it."

But that explanation doesn't satisfy me, "But Cat, it is something. Those were cuts on your wrist weren't they?" I see that look of embarrassment wash over her face again and she shivered when I said 'cuts'. I realized then that that word must hold a different meaning to her than to anyone else, a meaning that she doesn't seem to like to think about. I think to myself that I'm not doing a very good job at helping my friend. She doesn't even want my help. She still doesn't say anything, just stares down at her feet.

"Does anyone else know about this, Cat?" I ask in an attempt to get her to talk.

"No and I would appreciate it if it stayed that way, please. I don't need everyone worried about me like you are now."

"But Cat, if you need help I'm sure everyone will be glad to help in any way possible. We all care about you."

"Tori please," she begs, "just forget about it. Really, I'm okay, I promise." She puts her hand on my knee as she speaks, smiling up at me. I'm still not convinced, but I honestly have no idea what to do, so I pretend to believe her.

We sit there and eat our lunches, talking about the play that is going to be put on in this theater over the weekend. When we hear the bell indicating the end of lunch Cat jumps up from her seat. She flings her arms around me in a hug and says, "Bye Tori" as she leaves the room, full of her usual smiles as if our conversation never happened. That girl is quite the actress. A skill that I'm starting to think is more damaging than helpful to her.


	4. Chapter 4

Two weeks have passed since that conversation happened. Cat is always her same bubbly self and I have no reason to believe that things are any worse than they were before. I tell Lane that I spoke to my friend and it was all a big misunderstanding. She had been playing with a friend's new kitten. The oldest excuse in the book, but he seemed to believe it, which I'm surprised at since I suck at lying.

Jade, Beck, Robbie, Andre and I are sitting at our usual table in the Asphalt Café, our school's outdoor lunch room. Cat is at school today, but she didn't show up to lunch.

"Does anyone know where Cat is?" I ask the rest of the group.

"No, but she probably just got held up somewhere" Beck tells me.

"Or distracted by something shiny" Jade offers sarcastically.

"She may be sick. She seemed off today. I don't know, but maybe someone should check the bathroom to make sure she's not puking or something" Robbie says, sounding slightly concerned.

"I'll go" I say as I stand up from the table.

"I'm going too. I don't want to miss a good puke show" Jade says, also standing up from the table.

"You're disgusting" Andre tells Jade, who shoots him a look suggesting that she was proud of the 'compliment' he just gave her.

Jade and I make our way to the bathroom. All of the stalls are open, except for the last one which is shut and locked. I head over to it, peeking under to see whose feet are in there. I recognize Cat's pink and purple sneakers.

"Hey, Cat, are you okay?" I ask, leaning towards the door. There's no answer. "Cat…?" I ask again. Still no answer.

"Are you sure that's her in there, Vega?" Jade says annoyed as if I were wasting her time.

"Yes, I saw her sneakers. Cat, open up, it's Tori and Jade" I say, this time knocking on the stall door.

"She knows who it is, dummy. Move" Jade says as she pushes me aside. "Cat, open this door or else!"

No longer able to tame my fears, I drop to my knees to look under the door, this time I can clearly see that Cat is in the stall.

"Vega, what are you _doing_?" Jade exclaims disgusted, as if she's never done anything gross in her life.

But I ignore her comment, because I see something else in the stall with Cat. There's a pool of blood on the window sill that is on the wall of this last stall. Cat's tiny left wrist is sitting in the pool of blood, her head is leaning up against the wall, and her eyes are shut. Her right arm is limply on her lap, a razor lying in the limp fingers of her right hand.

"Jade, go get help!" I yell as I crawl under the stall door to unlock it.

"What? What's wrong?" she asks, suddenly scared, not annoyed. I throw the stall door open and her jaw drops. She stands there speechless as I check Cat for a pulse.

"Get help!" I shout again, this time she runs out of the bathroom, returning a few minutes later with Lane, who is already on the phone with an ambulance.

I hear the announcement. Code green is shouted over the intercom. Everyone knows that this means there is a medical emergency and no one can leave where they are until it is over. What happens next seems to all happen in a blur. The nurse and a few other faculty members rush in, paper towels are pressed to Cat's wrist in an attempt to stop the bleeding and she's laid on the floor so that they can perform CPR until the ambulance get's here.

Jade and I are standing off to the side, frozen with fear. We're both crying and holding on to each other, staring at our friend lying lifeless on the bathroom floor. Her red velvet colored hair looks like a pool of blood behind her head. I wonder now what exactly inspired this hair color of hers.


	5. Chapter 5

The EMTs rush in. Cat is lifted onto the stretcher and rushed out of the bathroom, Lane following closely behind. Jade and I are lead out of the bathroom by the rest of the adults that were there. They tell us that we'll be allowed to leave and go to the hospital as long as neither one of us are driving. They don't want to risk an accident with one of us behind the wheel, hysterical with fear for our friend. They agree to let Beck drive and for Robbie and Andre to leave school with us. Beck drive's as fast as the law permits until we reach the hospital.

When we make our way inside the emergency room we find Lane on the phone, most likely with Cat's parents. He hangs up as we approach him.

"How is she? Is she okay? She's alive, right? God, please tell me she's alive!" I say frantically.

"Calm down, calm down, everyone relax. Worrying like this won't get us anywhere. She lost a lot of blood. They're trying to stop the bleeding now. I don't know anymore than that" Lane tells us.

"She's alive though, right?" Robbie asked.

"You don't bleed when you're dead. Doctor's don't waste their time on those who don't breath" Jade said in her own way of making herself feel better.

"Why don't you all go sit in those couches over there. I want to talk to Tori" Lane said, pointing over to a group of couches next to the entrance.

Lane and I turn and walk in the other direction.

"Was Cat the friend you were talking about a couple of weeks ago?" he asks me. I can't speak. I just look at the floor and nod, tears starting to form in my eyes again.

_If only I had done more to help her. If only I hadn't lied to Lane. If only I forced Cat to talk to me. She wouldn't be in this mess right now. She'd be okay._ My mouth can't speak, but brain sure can.

"Tori, why didn't you tell me? Why did you lie to me?"

"She said she was fine. She said it wasn't a big deal and that she was okay. She promised" I say in between sobs.

"I spoke to her parents. They knew what she was doing to herself, but she had told them that she stopped. They believed her, too. She's quite the actress, huh?"

"Why does she do that? How can she do that? She's so pretty and talented. Her life seems perfect."

"Well, from what her mom told me, her parents blame themselves. They travel a lot and Cat get's left in charge of her brother. From the sounds of it he can be quite a handful and Cat get's very worried about him. All of that leads to stress and, well, I guess that was her way of relieving the stress. According to her mom, this problem has been going on for years. Self-harm can become an addiction and like with any addiction, you become numb to certain levels. You just keep wanting more and more. She just went too far this time."

I start balling my eyes out listening to Lane talk. I can't imagine little Cat doing this to herself. I can't believe none of her friends knew. There's nothing more to say, so Lane leads me back to where my friends sit. As I sit down in between Jade and Andre, Lane tells us that he needs to fill out some paper work since Cat's parents are out of town and it will be a few hours before they will be able to get here.

"What'd did Lane tell you?" Robbie asked me.

"He just wanted to talk to me because…well, I had talked to him, kind of, about this. I didn't tell him it was Cat, but he knew I was worried about a friend cutting herself" I say, not making eye contact with anyone.

All of a sudden I feel hands on my neck. "You knew? You knew and you didn't help her? You didn't tell anyone?" Jade has my neck and she's shaking my head as hard as she can. I'm crying and the boys are ripping Jade off of me. When they finally get her off and sit her back down I'm left crying into my hands softly repeating "She said she was fine, she said she was fine" mostly to myself than to anyone else.

"How did you know she did this?" Andre finally asked me.

"I accidentally saw some marks on her wrist at my house a couple of weeks ago. I asked her about it and she promised that she was okay. She told me not to tell anyone and promised that she was fine" I ramble, trying to convince myself that I did what any friend would have done.

There's nothing more to do, but to sit and wait. Sit and wait to learn the fate of our friend, our smallest, happiest, talented, and beautiful friend. She's only 16. She can't die that young, not with her whole life ahead of her.


	6. Chapter 6

After a few hours of waiting Lane finally returns to where we're sitting. His face isn't happy or sad, just serious. All five of us look up at him waiting for him to tell us how Cat is doing.

"They stopped the bleeding" he tells us as he sits on the couch across from us.

"That's a good thing, right? It means she's okay right?" I ask, wondering why he doesn't seem happier.

"She's still on conscious. They're not sure if any permanent brain damage has been done and they won't know until she wakes up, if she wakes up. She lost so much blood and her brain was deprived of oxygen for awhile" Lane continues to tell us. By this point we've all started crying again. We're terrified for our friend. We just want her to be okay.

"Can we go see her?" Beck asks Lane.

"No, not yet, her parents and brother are with her now. They'll give you you're time soon" he informs us.

Once again we're left waiting, waiting and waiting. It seems that that was all we had been doing for hours. And the hours ticked by slowly, so slowly. We'd all be staring at the walls until someone couldn't take it anymore and start crying again. If we have to wait any longer one of us will surely burst. The only time anyone talks is when one of us gets a call from our own families looking for an update. Trina informed me that by the time the school day ended everyone was talking about how Cat tried to kill herself. I was shocked to hear concern in her voice as we spoke. It was something I don't hear too often in her voice, but it was nice to hear, especially now.

Beck looks like he's moments away from an anger outburst. He's like the protective older brother of the group, so there's no doubt that he's blaming himself right now because he didn't know and couldn't help her. Jade probably wishes it was me, not Cat, especially since she's pissed that I knew and didn't tell anyone. I'm about to hit my wall again, I feel the tears building up behind my eyes when Cat's family walks over. They've got to know something.

_Good news, good news, God let it be good news._ This thought is running through my mind over and over before her parents reach us.

I've never met her family before. Her brother looks to be about eleven or so and her parents seem to be a few years younger than my own. All three of them have light brown hair, which I've heard is Cat's natural hair color. I can't tell yet if they're smiling, or crying. Her mom is holding her brother's hand and his checks look puffy and red, most likely from crying. _Oh God, he was crying. No, no that's not good._

Jade jumps up from the couch walking over to Cat's mom and giving her a hug before asking for an update on Cat. Jade has been friends with Cat the longest, since middle school. We're all sitting there staring at Cat's parents, once again waiting, waiting for them to tell us if Cat was awake, if she was okay.


	7. Chapter 7

Cat's mom smiles at us. _A smile! That's a good thing!_

"She's awake" her mom says softly.

"Is she okay? How's her brain?" Robbie asks, receiving a slight punch in the side from Beck.

"Why don't you kids go see her? I'm sure she will love that" Cat's dad tells us as we all get on our feet and head towards the hallway almost before he finished talking.

Jade reaches Cat's door first. She opens it followed by Beck, me, Robbie, and then Andre. Cat is lying on her back, but her head is facing the window on the opposite side of the room. She doesn't even turn her head when her door opens.

"Cat?" Jade asks slowly. No answer.

I push past Jade and Beck and walk to the other side of the bed. It is then that I see that Cat is crying. _She's crying. That's a good thing. _

"Hey, Cat" I say as I slowly approach her.

Cat just looks up at me and starts to cry more. She whispers something that I can't quite make out. The other four have started to make their way over to this side of the bed too and Jade is right next to me. She sits on the edge of the bed and puts her arm around Cat.

"What'd you say?" she asks Cat.

"I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to" Cat repeats between her sobs.

"You didn't mean to what?" I ask, slightly confused. I mean she had the razor, she knew what she was doing.

"I don't want to die. I didn't mean to." Cat spits out before breaking into uncontrollable sobs. We all stand there, not sure what to do until Cat is able to control her tears.

I hear a muffled, "I'm sorry" come out of Cat's mouth.

"Cat what happened today?" Robbie asks her.

Cat sat up and started to speak. "I….I don't know. I went to the bathroom before lunch, like I always do-"

"You always do! Like everyday? You do that to yourself everyday?" I say, not realizing my thoughts had escaped through my lips.

"Vega! Let her finish!" Jade says, scowling at me.

"It's okay, Jade" Cat says reaching her hand out to touch Jade's. I realize that her left wrist is wrapped in white gauze. My heart sinks thinking about how she probably has stitches under the gauze, along with a scar that will last forever.

I wasn't the only one thinking of scars. Jade picks up Cat's left hand, the one Cat had touched her with. Jade gently flips Cat's arm over, revealing an uncountable number or pink scars and newer, healing red cuts over them. Jade starts to glide her thumb over these marks before Cat rips her arm away, causing Jade to snap back into reality and look at Cat with sad eyes.

"Continue you're story, Cat" Beck says.

"There's nothing else to say. The last thing I remember I was…I was watching it bleed, but then I realized it was bleeding a lot more than it ever had before. When I turned to get toilet paper to put on it I got dizzy and then just fell asleep. I woke up in here and my family was crying. They told me I almost died. I don't want to die" she said, tearing up again. She looked me right in the eyes and said, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, really. I don't blame-"

"Why didn't you tell any of us?" Jade cuts me off.

"I didn't tell anyone, Jade. I didn't want anyone to know, but now I'm guessing the whole school knows…" Cat says as her eyes tune out the window.

Just then a nurse came into the room informing us that visiting hours were over and that Cat needed her rest. We say our goodbyes, each hugging Cat. As we leave, she lies back down and turns so her back is towards the window. She watches us leave, but her eyes are dead to the world.

I'm the last to leave the room. I pause in the doorway looking back at the broken Cat lying in the hospital bed before turning and following my friends back down the hallway.


	8. Chapter 8

The next day at school was rough. Cat's mom had called Jade this morning to tell her that Cat would be able to be released from the hospital today, but should stay home from school for the rest of the week. Also that starting next week Cat would be required to attend daily therapy sessions so that she can get her situation under control. A lot of other students were coming up to us and asking if Cat really tried to kill herself. Jade handled them with verbal and physical threats, but I knew that didn't stop them from talking about poor little Cat when we were out of earshot.

As we all sit in silence at the lunch table. I'm trying to imagine how it will be for Cat to come back to school even though she wouldn't be back for another six days, since it was only Tuesday. Would she be the sad broken Cat we saw in the hospital or the happy Cat hiding everything under a smile? Just then I'm broken out of my thoughts as Beck's, Jade's, Andre's and Robbie's cell phones all vibrate at the same time. I look down at mine, realizing it hadn't gone off, but as I pick it up it vibrates.

"Ha! Slow service, better look into upgrading" Rex, Robbie's less then sensitive puppet says to me. I shoot him a look of annoyance.

"All you're texts from Cat, too?" Andre asks which was responded with yeses all around the table. "Hey! Would you be able to come to my house around 7 today? I really feel like I need to talk to you" Andre reads the text out loud as everyone apparently follows along on their own screens.

But what Andre reads, isn't what I see on my screen. I realize now why my phone had vibrated after everyone else's. Cat had asked me to come over her house at 6:30, a half an hour before everyone else.

The rest of the day was worse than the morning. I was now antsy to go to Cat's house and find out what she wanted to tell me. She had been so against talking the last time I tried, but now she wants to. The hours ticked by painfully slow, before finally it was time for me to head over to Cat's house.

As I pull into Cat's driveway I realize that there are no other cars in there. I walk up towards the front door and Cat opens it before I even reach the steps.

"Hey Tori, thanks for coming" Cat says as she throws her arms around me in a hug. She's not her usual bubbly self, but she definitely isn't the broken Cat I saw less than 24 hours ago.

"Hey Cat. Where's you're family?" I ask, realizing that Cat is in fact home alone.

"My parents are at work still and my brother had a baseball game, why?"

"Just that I'm kind of surprised that you're home alone so soon after…you know."

"I promised them I wouldn't do anything."

'Um, Cat, you're promises haven't exactly proven to be trustworthy."

"It's different now Tori. That's why I wanted to talk to you alone." We were now sitting on her couch and she had reached her hand over to touch my knee. "After…almost dying…I know I need to stop, and I want you're help."

"Me?" I asked, slightly confused. "Why not Jade? You've been friends with her for so long."

"Yea, but she just found out about this situation. You found out a few weeks ago, so I don't know, I just wanted you're help. Is that okay?" She has a look in her eyes that I can't ignore. It's like a mixture of vulnerability and fear.

"Of course I'll help you, Cat. What do you need me to do?"

"I don't know yet, but I am going to tell everyone else that I want them to pretend it never happened, okay? I'm going to tell them that I'll get the help I need in therapy and that it will be better to just go back to how things used to be. But, I might need someone to fall back on, is it okay if that's you?" Cat's amazing acting abilities are really shinning as she speaks, acting as if nothing really is wrong. You would never tell that she could ever be broken.

"Of course it's okay, Cat" I tell her.

"I really am sorry for not letting you help me before when you tried. I was just scared. No one had seemed so concerned about be before."

"But I thought you're parents knew, weren't they concerned?"

"They were at first, but I convinced them that I was better, so they just went on with life acting like it never happened. Plus that was a long time ago, when I first started. They only found out because I was still new to the whole acting thing back then, so I didn't hide it as well."

"Please don't act in front of me anymore. I want to help you, but if you hide it I won't know when you need help."

"I'll make sure to let you know when I need some support" Cat told me with a smile.

I looked down at her wrist, which wasn't covered with anything more than the gauze from the hospital. I gently lifted it and flipped it over, just as Jade had the day before, except, unlike yesterday, Cat didn't pull away. She let me examine the visible marks on her tiny wrist.

"You're so beautiful. Why would you damage your skin like this?" I asked, instantly regretting my choice of words.

"Jade gets tattoos. Why does she damage her skin like that? At least mine are free" Cat said very matter-of-factly.

I lifted my eyes to hers and smiled at her. This was a different Cat than who I had talked to just two weeks before in the Blackbox Theater. This was a Cat I could believe. I knew she meant every word she said this time. She wanted the help this time. Cat loved life and I knew she'd never intentionally give it up. We sat on her couch talking about how cute her doctor had been at the hospital waiting for the rest of our friends to get there so that she could tell them that she was getting the help she needed and they no longer had reason to worry. She was ready to move on and leave this dangerous behavior behind her.

* * *

><p><strong>Hope you liked it! It's not my best work, but oh well. I had been working on writing and tweeking this story for weeks and I didn't know where to go with it, so I just ended it. Sorry if it ends on a weird note haha :P. Review anyways! :)<br>**


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